Shiver

Shoots can have minds of their own if you let them, which can good or bad depending on the circumstance. In the case of this shoot, it felt like the natural thing to allow, given that we were working with a brand new team, and were planning on using natural light rather than more finicky strobes. But when a shoot that was originally designed to have one look turns into a eight-look editorial, you know something weird happened.

Probably the biggest influence came from the weather. The weekend we scheduled to shoot started off unusually warm for late November, so it seemed like a great opportunity to be outside. Unfortunately, that wasn’t exactly true. The day started off chilly, but bearable until somewhere in the middle of the first look of our shoot when the wind shifted and Winter blew in. By the end of our shoot, there were snow flakes and some very numb fingers.

A sane reaction to what happened, of course, would have been to end the shoot early (or on time, as per the original plan), but I wasn’t thinking logically. There was something about the wind, the fact that LaToya had successfully turned Jennie into a young Stevie Nicks, and the gorgeous, full rack of clothing brought in by our stylist Andrew. I became desperate to capture both the wardrobe and the shift in seasons, mostly because I knew that we could if we tried.

Since TJ and I were both shooting and the whole day was an experiment anyway, I decided to use a pinhole lens I’d picked up in July without knowing what I would ever use it for. I love the effect it gave, emphasizing the muted tones of the day, and somehow turning dramatic motion into peaceful stillness. It’s a bit of a contrast to the photos TJ captured, and I feel that, when combined, they show the transition of Fall to Winter, dramatic change moving into quiet, cold solitude.